HUMAN BEING – A BUNDLE OF CONTRADICTION

Most of us, human beings, are bundles of contradictions. The so-called God-men/God-women are no exceptions. Only ‘innocent’ kids can be excluded from the afore-said category but I am afraid even kids sometimes play mischiefs by creating a fuzz if they feel like getting little attention from those closest to them. But I don’t dare to include them under those coming under the list of ‘contradictions’.

It is often said: Human beings seldom change.

Now let us once again discuss the case of the so-called God-men/God-women – the ‘enlightened’ lot. They claim to have or are supposed to have undergone prolonged and ardous years of meditation for obtaining direct communication with God Almighty. A man or woman is supposed to have shed all egos before attaining celestial blessings. Now let us study our contemporary God-men/God-women and the king-size egos they still carry with them. A person as per the ancient teaching- must come out of all worldly desires- renunciation is the apt word – to reach the path of enlightenment. How many such blessed ones are there in our society? (Here I don’t want to keep a studied silence about a handful who after renouncing all their worldly possessions and keeping away from all the hustle and bustle of a world outside fully immersed in their meditation for years in caves along the foot-hills of Himalayas. Here also I have my own reservations.) The blessed ones who are getting along with us enjoying all the worldly pleasures and simultaneously preaching selflessness and altruism by all are innumerable. Their unending thirst for more and more wealth and more and more recognition and reputation by all and sundry are notorious. And the number of those who go to the extent of exploiting the gullible in our society materially and physically are also numerous. Instances of swindling and sexual abuse on a large scale abound in our society.These kinds of exploitation know no boundaries and are prevalent in the society irrespective of religion, be it Hindu, Islam, Christianity or for that matter any religion the case is the same.

While pondering over these blessed beings if I am forced to think about ourselves it is not much of a surprise because we do not have any hallucinations and we don’t claim to have come out attaining that ‘supreme state’. Thank God. And hence I don’t find it proper to cast aspersions on our local money lender Achamma.

It was in 1988 that we came to this part of Palkulam after purchasing a ready-built building along with 10 cents of land. We- my wife, two children and I – a nuclear family found it quite unbearable to get acquainted with the kind of ‘grave-yard’ silence which infact bored us to death as we were part of a city for a prolonged period. Achamma, whom I fondly called Achammal occasionally, was our nearest neighbour. She was in her forty’s then, her husband Varkey whom we affectionately called Varkey Chettan and their one and only daughter Gracy who was in her 20’s were the inmates of their abode- a medium-sized, tile-roofed house. Varkey Chettan was a bulky figure , medium height, a baldie and also with a bushy moustache, was rarely seen in their house and its premises. He was literally a hen-pecked husband and naturally was always hesitant and afraid to cross swords with his wife. Achamma reigned supreme in the house like an over bearing Queen bringing the father and daughter to their toes. Whenever Varkey Chettan played truant to get a day off from duty, Achammal would appear before him in her true colours and would order him to get ready and report for duty without wasting time. Varkey Chettan was left with no other option except to obey his better-half fearing the consequences. Achamma would occasionally rang up the company whether Varkey Chettan was present.

“He is such a lazy man. You know these days how much difficult to get a job even for those who are well educated. He with his Seventh Class failed certificate has got the job of a driver all because of the blessings of Jesus Christ”- Achamma looking up above as if she was seeing Jesus there would tell my wife about her husband’s proverbial laziness and apathy. My wife might have been enjoying Achammal’s words. She might have had an itch to tell Achammal about her own plight and the hullaballo she created on certain occasions she faced with on account of her husband(myself).

Varkey Chettan would wake up or Achamma would wake him up from his slumber early in the morning. After finishing his daily routine and all remaining activities he would step out of his house to the village slowly, the village gradually unveiling the blanket of darkness, would walk down the tarred street without paying heed to the music of the chirping crickets, gritting teeth, angry with himself and all around him to the bus-stop about two furlongs from the house.

At about 10AM, Gracy Kutty- their one and only daughter- would proceed to her tailoring class and Achammal would be free.

She in her usual dress- a bulky, short-statured brown figure in her cheap saree and tight blouse would move out of the house after locking the door, occasionally come to our house or to some other distant houses she had contacts - almost all of them- connected with her a she was their local-money lender. All of them must have been nursing bitter feelings towards her as she had no compunction in charging cut-throat interests from each of them, quite similar to our feelings. Though our nearest neighbour there was no leniency towards us also in extracting maximum amount slapping exorbitant rates. But all paid her respect and gratitude while nursing curses and hatred hidden in their inner hearts, on meeting her typical of human nature.

No amount of flattery or accolades were sufficient to get a mercy approach from her. She meant business.

Like most of the Christian families in Palkulam, she was also God-fearing and with all deserving dedication (?) and piety attended Holy Communion on every Sunday in the nearest Church along with Varkey Chettan and Gracy Kutty.

During bed time we could overhear her prayers with her family before Jesus Christ every day.
“Our father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven,
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil;
For thine is the kingdom and the power,
And the glory forever, Aamen.”

On hearing her prayers I would shiver with anger and would think about the hollow, empty words she was mouthing before the crucified Christ by rote.

“Bitch, extracting this much from all in the locality, she prays for blessings and salvation by Jesus. What an irony” – whenever I overheard her I used to get angry and would utter choice epithets certainly with utmost caution.

Then as usual, feeling satisfied I would slump into my bed and it was my turn for the day’s communication with God Almighty.
“Krishna, Guruvayoorappa……”